Putin says agrees with USC management on building another shipyard in Russia's Far East

YAKUTSK. June 18 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the construction of a new shipyard in Russia's Far East with the management of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

"The management of the United Shipbuilding Corporation and I have discussed what will be built and where; after all, they need new enterprises," Putin told Far East residents in Yakutsk.

"We have decided that the next enterprise will be similar to what we have built near Vladivostok. We will build another facility of this kind in the Far East," he said.

The USC and VTB Bank, which manages the company, are eying several sites for construction of a medium-tonnage shipyard in the European part of Russia and the Far East, then Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Yevtukhov said in June.

Previously, Far East and Arctic Development Minister Alexei Chekunkov said in an interview with Interfax that several promising sites are being considered for the construction of a new shipyard in the Far East. "There are different promising sites, near Nakhodka, in Slavyanka, in Zarubino," Chekunkov said, adding, "In any case, we are speaking about a shipyard on a scale comparable to that of the Zvezda Shipyard."